Friday, March 30, 2018

Stirling students extend winning run to eight match-play titles in a row at Lossiemouth

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! Stirling University No 1 team with the Scottish students' match-play championship trophy after their final win over St Andrews 1

By STEW FOWLIE

Stirling University men's team completed an emphatic 11.5-0.5 match-play victory over St Andrews to lift the Charles McNeill Cup at the conclusion of the 96th Scottish students golf championships at a chilly Moray Golf Club links, Lossiemouth today (Friday).

Having enjoyed a 3pt lead after the morning foursomes, the competitors from Scotland’s most successful golfing university took to the eight afternoon singles, safe in the knowledge that three points would see them lift the famous trophy, first contested in 1923.

It took a little while for the afternoon board to turn a familiar shade of green, however, with Saints’ Peter Kerr racing to a two-hole lead against Jordan Sundborg in the first match of the session and a number of other matches taking a few holes to catch fire.

Nevertheless the champions' charge was soon in evidence. Stirling’s Michael Lawrie, younger son of former Open champion Paul Lawrie, established his dominance on the front nine of his match and never looked back - eventually beating Matthew Myers by an impressive margin of 6 and 4.

In the third match Mark Napier proved his fine match-play pedigree by slowly pulling away from St Andrews’ Bjorn Bojesen, with three birdies helping Napier to a winning score of 4 and 3.

It was to be left-handed Irishman Ross Nelson who would have the honour of holing the winning putt for Stirling in the fourth match of the afternoon. He steadily built a very strong lead during his tie against Tobias Hein, and all-important seventh point of the match was eventually earned by Nelson with a 12ft putt at the 14th.

The top match of Sundborg v Kerr was an enduring tussle, with rarely more than a hole in it. Jordan would have been excused for assuming he would win the 15th after a fine tee shot to two feet, only for Peter to chip in from right of the green for a half. However, the match eventually went the way of Sundborg, who sealed the point with a half at the 18th for a one-hole win.

Individual stroke-play champion earlier in the week, Laird Shepherd weathered some difficult spells at the hands of Saints’ Chris Kulukundis before winning by 3 and 2 to complan unbeaten week.

Stirling skipper Colin Edgar produced a very assured performance in the sixth match of the afternoon to beat Liam Frean by 2 and 1 after being all square at the turn.

David Nagiev and Jack Rogan enjoyed a closely fought battle in match seven, but it provided a further point for Stirling. With a one-hole advantage, Nagiev made a cast-iron four at the 18th while Rogan was unable to make match it after needing to drop on to the first tee to play his third.

The final match presented an opportunity for St Andrews to salvage some pride from a difficult day via their captain George Burns but, after leading by one hole at the turn, he went down by one hole to Rob Foley.

All in all, it was a dominant display by a very accomplished Stirling side, who, in the end, had just a little too much in the tank for a spirited Saints team which perhaps tired a little at the end of a very busy week.